K H Although marketed as a slasher, "City of Blood" is a gritty and tense political thriller with some slasher elements. It is atmospheric and stylishly directed. The outstanding Joe Stewardson is a grizzled medical examiner being strong-armed by the government to sign a death-certificate of a black leader killed in police custody. Meanwhile, a series of killings of prostitutes are traced to a 2000 year old traditional club.This is one of my favorite Darrell Roodt films along with "Place for Weeping" and "The Stick". More so than any other director, Roodt captures the fear that was presumably setting in for white South Africans in the 1980s as apartheid began to (thankfully) crumble amidst increasing violence and opposition. A chilling and under-appreciated film.

polysicsarebest I'll have to agree with all the reviews posted on here thus far and say that this film can be mighty boring, but it isn't without a few charms. Also, I want to mention to never trust a VHS by its (back) cover: To just look at the pictures and the summary, it'd be easy to believe you're going to be seeing an undiscovered hardcore slasher film from the 80's, but... yeah... I don't know what it is I just saw.It starts out well enough, with good directing, acting, and atmosphere, not to mention an engaging storyline. No kidding, the first 30 minutes or so of this movie has some decent suspense and is interesting and sleazy enough to be watchable. I especially enjoyed the main character, who is amongst the worst "main characters" in history: sweaty, bloated, old, nasty, mean, and with a bulldog face. Who wants to look at this guy for 96 minutes? He keeps having psychic visions of his wife while he talks to himself and drives from prostitute to prostitute; meanwhile, he won't sign a death certificate and he decides to become a detective.After this point, there is some nonsense about African politics and more psychic visions, a few murders, and a suicide. The whole film has a really nice and dark look and a very grim, mean-spirited tone: there is no humor whatsoever. Also, the soundtrack is interesting because it's almost entirely chimes, pianos, and a nausea-inducing flanger pedal played forever. But, really, what WAS this? What was the point of this film? When it's all said and done, it doesn't really do anything. But man, that sure is a cool title for a film and a cool image on the box. Worth maybe watching for a few interesting moments... but it's nothing special.

FieCrier Two Africans are killed 2,000 years ago by a pair of African witch doctor-looking men. In the present day, a white South African medical examiner is investigating the deaths of prostitutes who are killed by a weapon that leaves five holes in their skulls. Somehow he connects this to tribes in Africa that had lived 10,000 years ago.He also refuses to sign a blank death certificate for an African hero. Government officials, including the prime minister, try to pressure him to do it, while a black couple hopes that he will not.He hallucinates his wife (not sure what that was all about), and seemingly hallucinates late- night drives and conversations with prostitutes that turn out to have been real.What the ancient Africans have to do with anything, or why the prostitutes were being killed, is beyond me. Perhaps a South African audience would have understood this movie better.As others have said, it's a snoozer. Lots of scenes of nothing happening, and the lead actor is a mumbler who isn't particularly charismatic.

Paul Andrews City of Blood starts in 'Africa 2,000 Years Ago' where two native tribesman are killed, one by a decapitated head on a swinging rope(!) & the other by having his head bashed in... Jump forward to the 80' & Johannesburg, South Africa where chief medical examiner Joe Hendersen (Joe Stewardson) has been called out by his best friend detective Max Wharton (Ian Yule) to yet another brutal murder of a prostitute, both Joe & Max are working as hard as they can to discover the identity of the murderer but have little to go on. That night Joe speaks to a prostitute who turns up dead the next day, now Joe can't leave it alone until he finds the killer but that's not the only problem he has as special agents Stoltz (Gys De Villiers) & Phillips (Greg Latter) put pressure on him to fraudulently sign a death certificate for an equal rights activist who was beaten to death by his interrogator's & therefore help stop a potential revolution against a government he despises. Will Joe do the moral thing or will he crumble under the pressure of a corrupt government & it's official's? Will Joe be able to find a breakthrough in the murders & bring the killer to justice? Who knows, who cares...This South African production was co-written & directed by Darrell Roodt & frankly is about as exciting as watching paint dry. The script by Roodt & Mary-Ann Lindenstadt is as much political drama as horror, in fact I would say that it's far more of a political drama than a horror which means that were're off to a bad start already. City of Blood is incredibly slow going, the story is dull & just didn't interest or engage me at all. Then there's the heavy handed political statements & the moral stance it takes, obviously shot during the 80's when apartheid was in full flow City of Blood tries to raise the issue & paints the stereotypical picture of all whites are evil & all blacks are freedom fighting outstanding members of the community, now don't get me wrong as I don't know the first thing about South African politics either then or now so I really couldn't say if it's portrayal is accurate or not. There was also the minor fact that I couldn't care less about South African politics, I know that sounds a bit of a harsh thing to say but I've got enough to worry about in my own country, it's as simple & straight forward as that so I found most of City of Blood tedious, dull, boring & irrelevant to the extreme. The serial killer issue is barely touched upon & it felt more like a sub plot just to try & keep the audience awake & give them something to grab onto in the hope that it might get better, unfortunately it never does. The story is all over the place & never really settles down while the climax just frustrates & annoys.Director Roodt likes to have long tedious random sequences of Johannesburg & the South African countryside which are far from impressive looking. There's no scares, atmosphere, tension, intrigue, excitement or drama in this damp squib of a film that never really gets off the ground. Forget about any gore apart from a decapitated head on a rope & someone with some spears stuck in their chest, there is a touch of nudity but not much.Technically City of Blood is OK at best, it's competent but at the same time it's just so bland & forgettable. The acting was alright but since the film as a whole is so lousy who cares?City of Blood is probably marketed as a horror film with talk of serial killers & such, don't be fooled there is very little horror & a whole load of boring melodramatics that bored me to tears. Maybe there is an audience for this type of slow moving crap but it's not for me at all I'm afraid. One to avoid if your hoping for horror like me...